• Deal Maker

  • Mixed Messages, Book 2
  • By: Lily Morton
  • Narrated by: Joel Leslie
  • Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (641 ratings)

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Deal Maker  By  cover art

Deal Maker

By: Lily Morton
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
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Publisher's summary

Sometimes your mouth makes deals that your heart can’t honour.

Jude is a highly successful model, but a very reluctant one. His life is full of casual hook-ups with pretty men in glamorous locations, but it’s still empty. However, circumstances decreed a long time ago that this was his path, so he’s resolutely stayed on it and accepted his fate with good grace. He made a deal with himself and his hook-ups. Get in, get out, and no ties with anyone.

However, an accident at home one night leads to him making a new deal and accepting the offer of help from an unlikely source. It leads to an unexpected summer of falling in love with a larger-than-life man and his child. But by the end of the summer his reasons for not staying are still valid. Will he turn away? Can he?

Asa is a talented actor who has spent time away from the scene to look after his son. But now he’s back, and the last thing he needs are complications from the gorgeous man who is staying with him. Scarred from too many betrayals, he has no intention of forming a lasting tie with anyone. However, he can’t resist the beautiful man with secrets, and to his horror he develops feelings.

But a deal’s a deal and they said it was just for the summer. What can Asa do with a man who has forever in his eyes and goodbye on his lips?

From the Amazon best-selling author of Rule Breaker comes another scorchingly hot romantic comedy.

This is the second book in the Mixed Messages series but it can be read as a stand-alone.

©2017 Lily Morton (P)2019 Lily Morton

What listeners say about Deal Maker

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This. Is. It. !! The Utterly Perfect Narration

Once in a while, you listen or/and read something that touches a part within your soul.
Giving you intense feelings, an almost visceral reaction, of love , sorrow, happiness , affinity , hope , loss.

I experienced all those emotions while listening to Joel Leslie's narration of Deal Maker by Lily Morton.

A year ago, I read the ebook version of Deal Maker, Asa and Jude's story. I fell ,head over heels, in love with all the characters; the snarky banter, hilarious dialogue , descriptive and smutty hot AF sexy times. And, the overall engaging , heartfelt and passionate tone of the story; without a doubt Deal Maker is an awesome book.

So, my fierce , deep and Yes! Hot-Blooded reaction! Is because listening Joel Leslie performance was better than me reading the book. He transported me to Asa's Pink London house, to Jude's parents farm in Devon, I walked ,hand in hand, with Billy on the beach of Mallorca , ate scones and drank a cuppa at Asa's kitchen table and felt as voyeur watching Jude and Asa make love. It was so vividly told that felt I watching a movie in my mind.

This. Is. It.
The reason I enjoy and love listening/reading Romance books. To escape the ordinary , immerse myself in a beautiful fantasy where the good guys win , have wonderful adventures , visit exotic fascinating places and all get a happy ever after. Get this audio it's worth ALL your credits.

Lily Morton and Joel Leslie are the Audiobook Dream Team !

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Deal Maker

#Dead #LMAO

These books have been an absolutely Hilarious Riot so far. I Freaking Love these books so much. I can see myself reading and listening to these books over and over any time I need a pick-me-up, or laugh.

Jude is such a great character. I fell in love with him right from when we met him in book one as Dylan's bestie. However, when he decided "Pink Poo" was the password and was yelling it for the world to hear, my love for him was solidified. Billy, was adorable and I loved his 5 year old snarky personality. And Asa.... What do I even say... LMAO.. He really deserved all the funny high-jinx and jokes that Jude put him through and played on him at the beginning, he totally asked for it with his way of thinking and judgement. LOL. As time went on though, you could see the strength of their relationship forming from a mile away. I love how they unconsciously developed their little family, without even realizing it was happening along the way.

Joel Leslie, LMAO OMG, you are so freaking amazing.... Seriously I haven't laughed this hard in a Long While. Thank you so much for all the crazy dramatic effort you so obviously put into these books. Coming from the US I'm never really sure how on point the accents & dialects are for British/Aussie characters, but the voices for every character in this book (and book one of this series) was believable to me. I really felt like I knew the characters by the end of this book. And omg, I loved your voice for Bill so much, it was utterly adorable, he was such a cute character even more so in the audio version. I thoroughly enjoyed the audio for these books and really don't want to wait for book three to hit audible. lol. I want it now...

P.S. Someone, please tell me Dean gets a book... I would love to see more of his High-ness... LMAO...

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Don't judge a book by it's cover

Unlike the first book in the series that took some effort to get into, I liked this one from the start. Jude is the perfect snarky character to ever grace a books pages, he does his outmost to be a ditzy, clueless model parody to make Asa's life difficult. And as funny as that was, I liked that the author didn't take it too far or it could have been annoying. Asa, for his part, is also a clever witty man and catches on to Jude's act, shifting their relationship to a new territory.
Asa is just a big old cuddly softy that makes the ultimate book boyfriend, and his relationship with his son is sweet and touching. Billy is the cutest, most conniving little boy you can imagine and seeing how Asa and Jude orbit around his was wonderful.
I liked how much Jude was a well-rounded character, he had many good reasons to be the way he was, and Asa did too. It made the conflict of the story that much more interesting because you could clearly take either side. Finding their HEA was not easy and they each had to fight old scars and pain from past relationships to get it.
This book is both funny and genuinely touching, with great supporting characters too. The replies to fan mail Jude writes in Asa's name at the beginning of ever chapter are hilarious! Choosing to read them out in Asa's voice is even more so!

The narration by Joel Leslie is, like always fantastic! He fits characters like Jude and Dylan so well and his accent work his so good! I cannot get enough of his accents, he's like a chameleon, smoothly moving from character to character. This book was hilarious and he just made it that much better with his nuances and acting skills.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic sequel that can be read independently

I found it not as angsty and dramatic as the first one, but that could be due to the different kind of drama of both books. Masterfully written and performed.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

A sweet opposites attract found family romcom!


This is the second book in the series and can be enjoyed as a standalone, although some characters are briefly introduced in book 1. This was such an adorable opposites attract! I loved how Jude reformed from his no commitment ways to settling down. Asa was sweet and strong and I loved the dynamics between him and Jude. Billy bless his heart was absolutely adorable and a ray of sunshine. I loved his sweet, steamy opposites attract romcom! The dialogue was fun and enjoyable and the writing style was engaging. Joel Leslie's narration was smooth and flawless.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I made a mistake

I honestly think I should have read this instead of going for the audio. I haven't gotten far into it, maybe one chapter and already I know it's a DNF. Unfortunately for me, this was a narrator issue. I have liked some of Joel Leslie's narration, in fact, had he continued to narrate the Sloane Kennedy books, I would have kept on buying those. Alas, he is not doing them and so yeah, no more for me. That's why I thought this would be fine. Someone else recommended the book and since I had some credits, I figured, why not ?

Here's the issue. One of the main characters can't be more than 30 yrs old, however, I hate to say this, but Joel Leslie does NOT sound like a young guy, omg don't hate me. His voice to me sounds a little too shaky and not only that, the British accent was off for me as well. I will say, I have been spoiled by other narrators in that aspect. I just .... I can't get into it.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Copy and pasted themes from first book

This is another chicken soup book for me easily consumable, not terribly complicated and easy to mildly enjoy.
Its especially chicken soup as its the same Formula as the first book. Even the snarky banter is done again that you could easily mistake the character is being re-used since its nearly the same as the first book. I definitely laughed at the banter but it got old after a while. It got old because the the style of the erratic smart banter was what we've already seen in the first book. The style of the banter wasn't distinct enough to feel like you're following a new character.

This didn't do anything new and exciting for me. I was actually somewhat bored but still happy to enjoy the average story telling. The book has more of a focus on the relationship building of a boss and employee and in the process you get background on them to hopefully keep you interested.

This attracted to the boss shtick though felt tired this next time around.
This isn't even a copy one shtick book as it also copies the first books very specific theme of a 'I'm attracted but I can't do monagamy or relationships because reasons even though i still get jealous of you with other people but also am i even good enough'. So other then character and scenerio differences the writing to get to certain high points all feel so identical.

I really didn't understand why this had to be a series as the end of the first book ended so nicely and wrapped up. But now this all feels sorta milked trying too hard to do the same thing in a world that isn't very interesting. When i picked this book up i was hoping for something different but ended up with the same bowl of chicken soup served to me.

Now the world building requires a lot of willing suspension in disbelief to get into some of the plots quirks. If you think too hard into it, it all is somewhat silly and nonsense with this main character and how he has come onto his employ and living situation. I feel like the author maybe doesn't know how renting or how the absolute basics of insurance works.

The tension wasn't as believable or strong. I wasn't very invested in the characters when the romance started. I feel like the character building wasn't done well enough to get me to care when the first Erotic moment began. The build up was slow and the first Erotic scene was a fade to black moment for some silly reason. This made having to slog through the story very annoying when there is very little relief from the average story to enjoy a Erotic moment. Prepare for more of that. Its up to you though if getting through this boring copied storyline is worth getting to the near copied romance.

In short, there are better books out there to spend your time with. If you want more of the same of this series, re=read the first book, its better.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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One of My Top Picks of 2019

This audiobook made the original story even better with Joel Leslie’s vocal interpretation of Asa and Jude and the rest of the cast of characters. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—these people become real to me when I can hear their emotions expressed in their voices. There’s drama, humor, anger, and sadness in this story, and every voice is so distinctive there’s never a doubt about who is speaking.

Asa, an older well-known actor, is a gentle soul who loves his son and is extremely protective of his privacy. His heart was broken by a former model after a four-year relationship. So when Jude shows up needing a place to stay and willing to take a PA job to help Asa out, he's shocked when he's despised just because he's an empty-headed male model.

Jude is usually cool and calm but knows revenge so he proceeds to show Asa just how air-headed a model can be. The author opens each chapter with a note from Asa, written by Jude, in answer to fan mail. The notes are so witty, snarky, and downright decadently humorous, it’s hard to keep from laughing out loud in public places. We met Jude in the first book of the series but his character is much more fully developed here and he's simply a wonderful person. Caring and concerned for his parents, whom he helps financially, always ready to help a friend in need, and with a great sense of humor, and a huge love for Asa's son, Billy, but his fear of commitment nearly destroys his chance at happiness.

Of course, the author gets them to their happy place, but Jude’s stubbornness does not make the HEA very easy to achieve. I love the way the author handled the last few chapters to bring them together. And the epilogue? Couldn't be better!

An outstanding audiobook with a super performance by Joel Leslie. I very highly recommend it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing

I read this when it first came out, as Lily has a way of making her characters come alive and be amazing! But this audiobook just brings the characters to life!!! It was amazing to hear the characters and bring me back into this world. The witty banter, the emotions, the climax, the resolution were all beautifully brought out by the amazing Joel. If you haven't already, I would definitely give this author and book a chance, you won't regret it :)

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Another amazing book in this Series

I received an ARC of this audio for my honest review. This book is about Asa, Jude and little Billy. You can feel their relationship developing even after Asa feels that Jude is dumb because he's a model. Jude decides to play along at first.

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